Shippy Moment of the Day: "I Miss You" (Avril Lavigne)

"When You're Gone" ~ Avril Lavinge

I always needed time on my own.
I never thought I'd need you there when I cry.
And the days feel like years when I'm alone.
And the bed where you lie is made up on your side.

When I first started watching this video, I was plagued with apathy. In a video about loss, Avril picks two cliches: two teens torn apart by conservative parents and a soldier in Iraq and his pregnant wife. Good job, Avril, hitting up your central faux-teen-rebel base and overwrought timeliness. But then the video completely surprises you and portrays a third, heartbreaking scene: an elderly man torn up by the death of his wife.

He starts with overwhelming, shattering grief where he clings to everything that's left of her: photos, clothes, and her side of the bed. And then, slowly but surely, he is able to find strength in his pain and is able to visit his wife's grave to celebrate their lives together. Needless to say, the first time I finished watching this video, I had tears streaming down my face.

I know, I know. Melissa, why do you like old people love so much? I'm telling you: nothing is more painful to watch (in a good way) than how we must realize our own mortality through our love and loss of another. Maybe I'm projecting too much onto a part of life I have yet to experience, but what could be worse than losing your partner of the past few decades? Screw young love. It may be passionate, but can it even hope to compare to fifty years of companionship?

I really respect Avril for including this particular storyline in the video. It doesn't quite fit with the song, but on an album (The Best Damn Thing) where Avril was constantly selling her new-found sexuality, a beautiful, poignant representation of love not lust in a completely unsexy context strikes a level of maturity that I didn't expect from her.